Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Today is an important day. For 100 years, we have operated as a democracy.

It is important we follow the constitutional order today in electing a Taoiseach and a new Cabinet and Government. The metaphor I was using is that it is like half time. The captain's armband will be passed from one to the other but it will be a similar team and I am certain that on Monday morning Tánaiste Micheál Martin will be running out with the rest of us, determined to do everything we can to serve the people. I spoke in the Convention Centre two and a half years ago about the qualities he has that I believed would make him a good Taoiseach. Any assessment, historic or even current, will find that expectation to have been correct.

We have work to do. We retain and double down on the programme for Government we wrote two and a half years ago in a time of real crisis. Before I continue I will mention one person who, as the Taoiseach said, will not be continuing in that team but who has done an incredible job, namely, outgoing Attorney General, Paul Gallagher. We were joking at Cabinet on Tuesday. The Minister for Foreign Affairs was saying every time we get the Security Council the world is in crisis, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to 9/11 and now the war in Ukraine. I said that every time Paul Gallagher takes the Attorney General's office he has to deal with a crisis. During the financial crisis he served this State in a way that was hugely significant for the benefit of our people. Again, what he has done in the past two years to protect the constitutional rights but also to drive what we call the system to push for speed and flexibility in everything we do is a huge record of achievement he leaves behind. I thank him personally and on behalf of our party for the incredible work he has done.

We have work to do. If I was to simplify one of the key characteristics of what is in our programme for Government and what we need to do now, I would say we need a bigger State. We need more of our Republic working collectively in this democratic, constitutional way. This is because we are beset by issues that require real effort, real commitment and real conviction and co-ordination of our efforts. We all know that first and foremost among those is housing our people and those who come to our shores seeking refuge or opportunity. That will not be easy but I am certain we will do everything we can to provide that housing. We have set up the mechanisms to allow the State step in where the market is not going to be able to succeed and while it is challenging and beset by all sorts of difficulties, we will deliver.

The second issue is health. The three key targets for this Government and the reform of our health service starts with the understanding the State is all of us. The State is every porter, nurse, consultant, clerk and every single person. The job of ourselves in Government, those in local government and the new CEO of the HSE is to allow each one of us to take up and step up our role in providing care for each other. It is to be creative and to do things differently. It is not just about how much money you throw at things but about how you make the best use of that money to deliver what we need.

In the next two years, the biggest change, the thing that is going to matter most, not just in those two years but for the next two or three decades, is what we do collectively as a country to tackle climate change, to improve our country as we do so, to tap into and rely on our own energy resources that protect us and give us greater security, as well as providing for a better environment. We must change Irish farming and forestry so we diversify and bring new income streams to encourage a whole new generation of people to come into this most important task of our time, which is to protect and restore nature, provide the food we need and maintain and restore the beautiful country we have the great joy to live in.

We must change. The biggest political challenge is going to be the very basic agreement at a local level in every council in the country about how we move around, how we avoid gridlock and how we create a sense of community by what is going to be a complete pivot in our transport system.

It will be a system change, as the OECD recommended in a report earlier this year, so that we build up that sense of community. We need to make Ireland a country which is socially just with everyone having access to the transport systems that we need.

Last but not least, in respect of climate change there is a new circular economy. We realise that the economy serves society and not the other way round. The root of the word "economy" is related to managing the home. As we all know, the home is not just about bricks and mortar; it is about having time to listen to the spirits in our hearts. How do we put an economic price on humour? We in government are committed to that.

I want to commend my Green Party colleagues, in particular. The protection of cultural institutions is as important as all of the other infrastructure that needs to be put in place. The value of caring work, which economics has never properly measured and priced, is central to what we need to do in providing this new economy.

How do we value and price the courage of protecting the peace? We all feel that this week, for Private Seán Rooney and his family and Trooper Shane Kearney. How do we measure that price? It is priceless. It is more important than everything else. It is what we stand for as a country and people. It is a path that carries real risks when people go out to uphold peace, but that is as important as any measure of economic success. That , more than anything else, is how we value ourselves as a country.

I mentioned the Taoiseach having done a good job. The baton is being passed on. I was slightly nervous when I met Leo's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Varadkar, coming in because I have been there in the past in terms of what were euphemistically described as robust exchanges with the Tánaiste, and please God, future Taoiseach. One thing Deputy Bruton said struck me. He said leaders need character, courage and curiosity. I thought of three other Cs. We need a Taoiseach to be clever and collegiate and, because cleverness alone does not work, to have compassion. I have worked closely with the Tánaiste in the past two and a half years and he has all those characteristics in spades.

What the Taoiseach said is true. We have worked on principles of trust. We have arguments. The attractive thing is that one does not always win the argument but one does not always lose. It is about the reasonableness of an argument, in my experience over the past two years. If one goes in with a willing case one has a good chance of winning one of the other two and carrying three over the line. We will continue that. We will come in for half-time, take a break tomorrow and hit the ground running again.

It is a time of real change in the world and an important time for our country. We will make mistakes. Lord knows, we are not without our flaws. This is a good functioning Government. We stand by our Constitution. We go with pride to Áras an Uachtaráin to seek our seals of office from the President and for two more years we will do everything we can to help and serve the Irish people, with Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach.

See this speech in context